Rob Lowe is embracing the famous Brat Pack label after previously rejecting the nickname, saying it was “designed to denigrate us.”
David Blum of New York Magazine first coined the term Brat Pack in 1985, when he compared a group of then-rising stars in their 20s, including Lowe, to the famous Rat Pack. Although the cohort hated the label, it became popular with fans, and the members are still known by the nickname nearly forty years later.
During an interview with the Wall Street Journal Published on Tuesday, Lowe, now 60, explained that he now sees the label in a more favorable light.
“We should all be happy that we got a name for what we contributed as actors and that the fans still care about it 40 years later,” Lowe said.
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Rob Lowe, right, embraces the “Brat Pack” label. (Getty)
The Brat Pack, who came of age in the 1980s with films like “St. Elmo’s Fire’, ‘The Breakfast Club’, ‘About Last Night…’, ‘Sixteen Candles’ and “Beautiful in pink”, defined the teen angst of a generation and became a pop culture touchstone.
In addition to Lowe, Brat Pack members include Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Demi MooreAndrew McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Estevez and Jon Cryer, among others. However, it is not always clear which actors fit into the group.
At Blum Article in New York Magazine, Titled “Hollywood’s Brat Pack”, the journalist named Lowe, Estevez and Nelson as members of the Brat Pack, although he mentioned other young stars, including Tom Cruise, Sean Penn and Nicolas Cage, as potential members.
“This is the Hollywood ‘Brat Pack,’” Blum wrote. “It’s to the 1980s what the Rat Pack was to the 1960s: a roving group of famous young stars on the hunt for parties, women and a good time.”
Branded as the Brat Pack, ’80s stars have often expressed their distaste for the name. (Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images)
During an August interview with People magazine, Lowe expressed his disdain for Blum’s story and the label.
“The article was terrible,” he said. “It was a hit, there’s no doubt about that. It was meant to belittle us, make us look small, with that journalistic trick of plausible deniability.”
In a 1987 Los Angeles Times article, Blum defended himself against the backlash he received from the actors he considered the Brat Pack in his New York Magazine story.
Blum wrote that the article originated as a profile on Estevez during the filming of “St. Elmo’s Fire.” He revealed that he came up with the name Brat Pack after spending a night out with Estevez, Lowe and Nelson.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it an inspiration. I thought it was pretty clever,” Blum wrote. “It also seemed like an excellent way to describe the actors I had gotten to know somewhat through my reporting.”
He continued, “They had acted like – well, I might as well say it – brats, which doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have acted exactly the same way if I had been 23 years old, famous and rich. I might have done that. I might have been worse, but these guys certainly lived up to expectations.”
The term Brat Pack was coined by journalist David Blum. (Frank Edwards/Photos International/Getty Images)
Lowe told People magazine that experiencing the aftereffects of Blum’s article “wasn’t fun.” However, he noted that the author’s portrayal of him in the story was not as negative as that of the other actors.
“I actually came out OK,” he said. ‘It was that one night I went home early. What a rarity. So someone took care of me.”
In the New York Magazine story, Blum pointed out the obscurity surrounding which actors were considered part of the Brat Pack.
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“Everyone in Hollywood has different opinions on who belongs to the Brat Pack,” he wrote. “That’s because they base their decision on trivial things like whose movie is the biggest hit, whose star is rising and who’s falling, whose face is on the cover of Rolling Stone and whose isn’t.” The deluded fool bases his judgment on whose talent is greatest.”
“We can all be happy that we got a name for what we contributed as actors and that the fans still care about it 40 years later.”
Blum further claimed that, unlike the Rat Pack’s Marlon Brando, James Dean, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, none of the Brat Pack members had accumulated years of acting study. He also noted that the Brat Pack actors were not college graduates.
In the WSJ article, Lowe recalled how he fell in love with acting at a young age after seeing the musical “Oliver!”
When Lowe was 12, his family moved to Malibu, California, where he began filming movies with a Super 8 camera with Sean Penn’s late brother Chris Penn and other children, some of whom would later become stars.
Actors who were labeled as part of the Brat Pack said it hurt their careers. (Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
“The group that was into acting included Chris’ brother Sean Penn and Charlie Sheen and his brother, Emilio Estevez. Eventually I got to know them and made my own movies with Charlie,” “The Floor” host recalled.
He continued, “During classes at Santa Monica High School, I would always sit in the front row and raise my hand for the answer. I was that man. But I didn’t participate in school plays. By then I had an agent and had started going to auditions.”
Lowe explained that his success early in his career led him to postpone his studies and rethink how he learned his craft.
“At 15, I was in my first network TV sitcom, ABC’s ‘A New Kind of Family.’ In my senior year, I was cast in Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Outsiders.’ going to film school at UCLA or USC or making the movie,” Lowe recalled.
“I thought film school could wait,” he added. “Then there were two films a year and I never went to college. I learned to act by watching more experienced actors on sets and by doing the work. Later I started working with an acting coach.”
During his interview with People magazine, Lowe said that exposure as members of the Brat Pack “probably didn’t help our credibility … in the industry.”
Ally Sheedy said the label “destroyed” the group’s camaraderie. (Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
When he appeared on Good Morning America in June, it starred McCarthy, who directed the film Hulu documentary ‘Brats’ said that all the actors in the group “hated” the Brat Pack nickname at the time.
“Who wants to be called a brat when you’re a kid? Especially when you’re a kid and you think you’re a brat, so you don’t want to be called that, and you don’t want to be a brat.” being part of a pack and stuff, and we felt like it was affecting our lives, you know?” he said.
During an interview with People magazine that same month, McCarthy said that while the nickname was popular with fans, it had a detrimental impact on the industry’s perception of the actors.
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“It had professional consequences,” the “St. Elmo’s Fire” star explained. “The public embraced us, but the business community reacted negatively.”
In his article in New York Magazine, Blum alleged that the Brat Pack members made disparaging comments about each other.
He wrote: “For actors so steeped in the ensemble spirit, the Brat Pack members are out for themselves. ‘Sean is crazy with all his role preparation and becomes the character in every way,’ says one. And from Andrew McCarthy one of the New York-based actors in “St. Elmo’s Fire,” one co-star says, “He plays all his roles with too much of the same intensity. I don’t think he’ll make it.”
“The Brat Packers save their praise for themselves,” Blum added.
David Blum appeared in the documentary “Brats”. (Gary Gershoff/WireImage)
In Susannah Gora’s 2011 book, “You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tryed: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation,” Blum said Lowe, Estevez and Nelson felt betrayed by his portrayal of them and the article led to them parting ways.
Sheedy told Gora that Blum’s article “just destroyed” the group’s friendships.
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“I felt like I was really part of something, and that guy just blew it to pieces,” she said.
McCarthy’s documentary “Brats,” released in June, explored the impact the Brat Pack label had on the actors’ lives and careers.
While most of the actors appeared in the documentary, Nelson, Ringwald and Hall decided not to participate in the film. However, Blum agreed to participate and was interviewed by McCarthy.
In a June article for Vulture entitled “I Called Them Brats, and I Stand by It,” Blum wrote: “McCarthy’s cleverly edited film, even as it purports to portray the Brat Pack as imposed by sentence, succeeds to iron out the problems. fact that there is no longer any real animus between the Brat Pack actors and me.”
He continued, “At the end of our interview, McCarthy and I even hugged it out, sitcom style. At the premiere, Demi Moore introduced herself to me and took my hands in hers as if she were greeting an old friend.’
The film “Brats” premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
In his interview with People in August, Lowe pointed out that while the Brat Pack moniker was perceived negatively in Hollywood, fans embraced the name.
“The public – ultimately, that’s all that matters – never got that memo. They say, ‘That sounds cool’,” the “Austin Powers” star noted.
“I think I probably realized quicker than the rest of the group of actors that it was a good thing,” he said of accepting the name.
Lowe also praised the documentary “Brats” and noted, “The Brat Pack is having a moment.”
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“Andrew McCarthy’s documentary has a lot to do with it, and I couldn’t be happier about it,” he continued.
“It was a pivotal point for me to feel comfortable in the space I was occupying as an actor, for lack of a better term, and the beginning of a real rocket journey.”
